The Influence of Low-Temperature Disintegration on the Co-Fermentation Process of Distillation Residue and Waste-Activated Sludge

Innovative low-temperature disintegration (process temperature 55 °C and oxygen concentration 0.2 mg/dm3) can be an economically rational technology to intensifying energy production from renewable sources. The proposed process can achieve a degree of disintegration—under optimal conditions—of about 50%, which is excellent when compared with other methods of feed pre-treatment. The low-temperature disintegration of distillation residue and waste-activated sludge before the co-fermentation process increased biogas production by 30% and methane production by 65% (over a 26 d duration). The obtained results confirm that the low-temperature disintegration method can be effectively used to pre-prepare this type of feed. At the same time, it was discovered that the Gompertz model can be used to mathematically describe the biogas accumulation curves in the methane co-fermentation processes of the tested feeds (the correlation coefficients were higher than 0.98).

Length at Maturity, Sex Ratio, and Proportions of Maturity of the Giant Electric Ray, Narcine entemedor, in Its Septentrional Distribution

The size at which a certain fraction of a fish population reaches sexual maturity is an important parameter of life history. The estimation of this parameter based on logistic or sigmoid models could provide different ogives and values of length at maturity, which must be analyzed and considered as a basic feature of biological reproduction for the species. A total of 305 individuals of Narcine entemedor (N. entemedor) were obtained from artisanal fisheries in the Bahía de La Paz, Mexico. For the organisms sampled, sexes were determined and total length (TL) in cm was measured from October 2013 to December 2015. The results indicated that the females were larger, ranging from 48.5 cm to 84 cm TL, while males varied from 41.5 cm to 58.5 cm TL. The sex ratio was dominated by males ranging from 45–55 cm TL, while females were more abundant from 60 to 85 cm TL. Mature females were present all year long, exhibiting a continuous annual reproductive cycle. The length at maturity data were described by the Gompertz model with value of 55.87 cm TL. The comparison between models, and the model selection between them, showed that the Gompertz model had maximum likelihood and smaller Akaike information criterion, indicating that this model was a better fit to the maturity proportion data of N. entemedor.

Isolation of A Molybdenum-reducing Bacillus sp. strain Zeid 15 and Modeling of its Growth on Amides

More and more people are looking at bioremediation as a cheaper option to physhiochemical techniques for cleaning up pollution from farming, mines, and other chemical industries. Toxic effects of molybdenum on spermatogenesis harm not only humans but also livestock and aquatic life. As a result, efforts are being made to remove it from the ecosystem. A microorganism that can convert soluble molybdenum into colloidal molybdenum blue has been discovered. Phosphate concentrations were optimum between 2.5 and 5, molybdate concentrations between 15 and 20, pH between 6, and temperature between 25 and 34 degrees Celsius for the bacteria to thrive. Absorption spectrum of Mo-blue shows a peak at 865 nm and a shoulder at 700 nm, which indicates that it is in fact reduced phosphomolybdate. Copper, mercury, silver, copper, and chromium are all hazardous heavy metals that hinder the synthesis of Mo-blue. Bacillus sp. strain Zeid 15 is the most likely candidate for the bacterium's identity. As part of our screening, we look for the bacterium's capacity to employ different nitriles and amides as potential electron donors for molybdenum reduction or as substrates for growth. A microplate format was used for the screening. The bacterium was able to use the amides acrylamide and propionamide as sources of electron donor for reduction. Mo-blue production was best supported by acrylamide between 750 and 1250 mg/L, and propionamide between 750 and 1000 mg/L. In addition, these amides including acetamide could support the growth of the bacterium. The modified Gompertz model was utilized to model the growth of this bacterium on amides. The model’s growth parameters obtained were lag periods of 1.372, 1.562 and 1.639 d and maximum specific growth rates of 1.38, 0.95 and 0.734 d-1, for acrylamide, acetamide and propionamide, respectively. The capacity of this bacterium to decontaminate simultaneously amides and molybdenum is a novel characteristic that will be very beneficial in bioremediation.

Isolation and Characterization of a PEG-degrading and Mo-reducing Escherichia coli strain Amr-13 in soils from Egypt

Molybdenum is a pollutant that shows toxicity to spermatogenesis while polyethylene glycols (PEG) are used predominantly in detergents. The pollution of molybdenum and PEGs are reported worldwide. We have isolated ten molybdenum-reducing bacterial isolates from soil that can reduce molybdenum (sodium molybdate) into the colloidal molybdenum blue (Mo-blue). The screening of these isolates for PEG-degrading ability showed that one isolate was capable to utilize PEG 200, 300 and 600 for optimal conditions were pHs between 5.5 and 8.0, temperatures between 30 and 37 oC, phosphate at 5 mM, molybdate between 10 and 30 mM, and glucose as the electron donor. Biochemical analysis of the bacterium identifies it as Escherichia coli strain Amr-13. Growth was best supported by all PEGs at concentrations of between 600 and 1,000 mg/L. A complete degradation for PEG 200 and PEG 300 at 1,000 mg/L was observed on day four and five, respectively, while nearly 90% of PEG 600 was degraded on day six. The growth of this bacterium on these PEGs was modelled using the modified Gompertz model, and produced growth parameters values, which were maximum specific growth rates of 1.51, 1.45 and 1.18 d-1 and lag periods of 0.53, 0.87 and 1.02 day for PEG 200, PEG 300 and PEG 600, respectively. PEG 200 was the most preferred substrate for this bacterium, while PEG 600 was the least preferred.

Characterization of the Inclusion Complexes of Isothiocyanates with γ-Cyclodextrin for Improvement of Antibacterial Activities against Staphylococcus aureus

The aim of this study was to develop inclusions formed by γ-cyclodextrin (γ-CD) and three isothiocyanates (ITCs), including benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC), phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC), and 3-methylthiopropyl isothiocyanate (MTPITC) to improve their controlled release for the inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). These inclusion complexes were characterized using X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared, thermogravimetry, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), providing appropriate evidence to confirm the formation of inclusion complexes. Preliminary evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of the different inclusion complexes, carried out in vitro by agar diffusion, showed that such activity lasted 5–7 days longer in γ-CD-BITC, in comparison with γ-CD-PEITC and γ-CD-MTPITC. The biofilm formation was less in S. aureus treated with γ-CD-BITC than that of BITC by using crystal violet quantification assay and SEM. The expression of virulence genes, including sarA, agr, cp5D, cp8F, clf, nuc, and spa, showed sustained downregulation in S. aureus treated with γ-CD-BITC for 24 h by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Moreover, the growth of S. aureus in cooked chicken breast treated with γ-CD-BITC and BITC was predicted by the Gompertz model. The lag time of γ-CD-BITC was 1.3–2.4 times longer than that of BITC, and correlation coefficient (R2) of the secondary models was 0.94–0.99, respectively. These results suggest that BITC has a more durable antibacterial effect against S. aureus after encapsulation by γ-CD.

Effect of Organogelator Concentration on Gelation Kinetics and Drug Release Behaviour of Paracetamol-Loaded Soybean Oleogels

Organogelators induce 3-D networked structures in apolar solvent molecules via cross-linking of non-covalent self-assembled aggregates below the gelation temperature. The objective of the present investigation was to evaluate the effects of different Span 40 concentrations on gelation kinetics and drug release behaviour of topical soybean oleogels. An inversely proportional relationship was observed between gelation time, melt flow index and concentration of Span 40 in soybean oleogels. Gompertz model was employed on gelation kinetics data to determine organogelator and oil parameters which are assumed to be associated with thermal stability and gel flexibility respectively. Formulation OGS2 (18% W/V Span 40) formed less viscous, thermally stable and presumably more flexible oleogel compared to other formulations. Nearly ideal zero-order release of paracetamol was achieved from OGS*2 following Fickian diffusion. However, slow drug release profiles, higher t50 values were observed with oleogels having 20-24% w/v Span 40 which followed Korsmeyer-Peppas kinetics with non-Fickian diffusion.

Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Food Waste and Thermal Pretreated Waste Activated Sludge: Synergetic Effect and Energy Assessment

Thermal pretreatment was an effective method to improve the anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge. However its application in China was still hindered by the high energy demand. In order to balance the energy consumption of sludge thermal pretreatment integrated with anaerobic digestion, food waste was introduced as co-substrate to achieve an energy self-sustainable sludge treatment system. Anaerobic biodegradability test was performed using thermal pretreated sludge and food waste in order to clarify the kinetics and mechanism of co-digestion, especially the synergetic effect on specific methane yield. The prominent synergetic effect was an initial acceleration of cumulative methane production by 20.7- 23.8% observed during the first 15 days, and the cumulative methane production of feedstock can be calculated proportionately from its composition. Between the evaluated models, modified Gompertz model presented a better agreement of the experimental results and it was able to describe the synergetic effect, assessed by the relative deviation between theoretical estimation and the experimental results of co-digestion tests. This feature made modified Gompertz model a suitable tool for methane production prediction of mono- and co-digestion. Energy assessment shown that co-digestion with food waste was a sustainable solution to maintain the integration of thermal pretreatment and anaerobic digestion energy neutral or even positive. Besides, the performance of sludge dewatering was a crucial factor for the energy balance.

Effect of Engineered Biomaterials and Magnetite on Wastewater Treatment: Biogas and Kinetic Evaluation

In this study, the principle of sustaining circular economy is presented as a way of recovering valuable resources from wastewater and utilizing its energy potential via anaerobic digestion (AD) of municipality wastewater. Biostimulation of the AD process was investigated to improve its treatability efficiency, biogas production, and kinetic stability. Addressing this together with agricultural waste such as eggshells (CE), banana peel (PB), and calcined banana peels (BI) were employed and compared to magnetite (Fe3O4) as biostimulation additives via 1 L biochemical methane potential tests. With a working volume of 0.8 L (charge with inoculum to substrate ratio of 3:5 v/v) and 1.5 g of the additives, each bioreactor was operated at a mesophilic temperature of 40 °C for 30 days while being compared to a control bioreactor. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray (SEM/EDX) analysis was used to reveal the absorbent’s morphology at high magnification of 10 kx and surface pore size of 20.8 µm. The results showed over 70% biodegradation efficiency in removing the organic contaminants (chemical oxygen demand, color, and turbidity) as well as enhancing the biogas production. Among the setups, the bioreactor with Fe3O4 additives was found to be the most efficient, with an average daily biogas production of 40 mL/day and a cumulative yield of 1117 mL/day. The kinetic dynamics were evaluated with the cumulative biogas produced by each bioreactor via the first order modified Gompertz and Chen and Hashimoto kinetic models. The modified Gompertz model was found to be the most reliable, with good predictability.

Biohydrogen production from food processing wastewater by a newly isolated thermophilic bacterium

The aim of this work was a comparative study of biohydrogen production from cheese whey and confectionary wastewater by a newly isolated thermophilic microbial strain Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum SP-H2. Experimental results showed that the fermentative hydrogen was successfully produced with the highest hydrogen yield of 3.9 mL H2/mL cheese whey or 80 mL H2/g chemical oxygen demand. The profile of soluble metabolite products showed that hydrogen generation by a new isolate was mainly acetate-type fermentation in the case of confectionary wastewater and mixed ethanol-acetate-lactate type fermentation in the case of cheese whey. The more optimal metabolic pathway of confectionary wastewater fermentation was confirmed by the better kinetic characteristics according to the Gompertz model.